The Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly, by 56-41, to end the U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. A second resolution, which passed in the Senate unanimously, held Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) personally responsible for journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The resolutions are the strongest rebuke to …
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2018
EC explains reasons for slow counting
The Election Commission on Friday cited multiple factors, including the 21% more polling stations than those in the previous polls, for the delay in the counting of votes in Madhya Pradesh. “Right from the first round of electronic voting machine (EVM) counting at 8.30 a.m., the candidates were very particular …
Read More »HC quashes Centre’s ban on oxytocin manufacture
The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed the Centre’s decision to ban the manufacture and sale of oxytocin, a drug which induces labour and controls bleeding during child birth, by private firms. A Bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla set aside the government’s April 27 notification imposing …
Read More »The plastic question is hard to crack
Is a total ban the solution? Making a choice appears difficult as alternatives are not as green as previously thought Bryony Drought was frozen in the fruit section. To her left on a recent shopping trip, the 26-year-old London school teacher saw “normal” bananas, grown using pesticides and chemical fertilizer. …
Read More »Jammu & Kashmir legislation to stop ‘sextortion’ of women
Governor Satya Pal Malik’s administration in Jammu & Kashmir on Friday approved an amendment to the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), to insert a section to provide for the offence of “sextortion.” Under Section 354E of the RPC, the new law explicitly bans sexual exploitation of women by those in positions …
Read More »Rajapaksa to resign, pave the way for Ranil’s return
Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to vacate the office of Prime Minister — which he controversially held for seven weeks — paving the way for the return of ousted leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The move signals an end to the political crisis. Mr. Wickremesinghe will be sworn in …
Read More »Supreme Court rejects PIL pleas for Rafale deal probe
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to embark on a “fishing enquiry” into the deal to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets merely on the basis of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions spurred by a media interview of former French President Francois Hollande and reports of favouritism shown by the Narendra …
Read More »Bombay Engineering Congress.
The fourth meeting of the Bombay Engineering Congress was opened yesterday [in Bombay on December 12] in the Board Room of the G.I.P. Railway. Over one hundred members were present from all parts of the presidency including Sind and representing different branches of Engineering. The president, Mr. F.J. Preston, delivered …
Read More »Anti-Ayub riots in East Pakistan
Pakistan police to-day [December 13] opened fire at two places in Chittagong in East Pakistan, injuring 12 persons, according to a Radio Pakistan broadcast monitored here [New Delhi] to-night. A violent crowd attacked a food train during the Opposition-sponsored province-wide hartal to-day. When the police interfered, the crowd attacked them. …
Read More »Time after time
In Telangana, the TRS banked on its regional appeal to keep the Congress out again In continuing with its politics of regional identity, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi won a second term in office in India’s newest State, pushing the national party, the Congress, to a distant second. TRS leader K. …
Read More »Theresa must
Having survived a party challenge, the British PM should spell out London’s next steps British Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a trust vote on her Conservative party stewardship. But there is little sign that the bitter infighting within the ruling party will abate. Nor is there any assurance that …
Read More »Idyllic no more
The pursuit of solitude has led tothe decline of Goa A poet who recently spoke of the need for solitude as a precondition for writing said that solitude made life simple, for example in terms of how much cooking was needed to sustain the person. She added that only the …
Read More »The anatomy of a police station
Lacking personnel, funds and motivation, the thana is not structured to enforce the rule of law The death of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, shot while trying to control a mob of cow vigilantes in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, is a vivid expression of the contempt of our ruling classes, …
Read More »Is it time to abolish the death penalty?
The death penalty is error-ridden, arbitrarily imposed and unfairly targets the poor As a punishment, the death penalty makes no sense: how does killing a person who has killed a person show that killing is wrong? Most of the civilised world has abolished it. India certainly does not need it …
Read More »The fear of executive courts
India urgently needs the return of a thriving legal culture that uncompromisingly calls out political posturing On Monday, Justice S.R. Sen of the Meghalaya High Court observed in a judgment that “anybody opposing… Indian laws and the Constitution cannot be considered… citizens of the country.” The case involved the denial …
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